The Devil's Pact

2: Stones To Lightnin'

I’m a white guy who grew up in London and fell in love with the blues. I got into the Rolling Stones at age twelve. I collected all their records and read books about them.

It quickly became clear that the biggest influence on the Stones was the blues. This led me to buy as many records as I could by blues artists like John Lee Hooker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Skip James, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf.

Unsurprisingly, I was desperate to get a guitar and learn to play. Only thing was guitars cost money.

I didn’t have any.

Undeterred, I built one using old wood and nails for frets. As for strings I stole them from the music room at school. An old two-track reel-to-reel tape deck served as an amplifier. It might sound basic, but that old deck was tube-driven – the same as all the best guitar amps are.

As you can imagine, anyone hearing the sound coming from this makeshift system would have thought the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were riding into town….and that suited me just fine!